Tenet (dir. by Christopher Nolan, 2020)

With cinemas having laid dormant for months, it was an exciting prospect to be re-introduced to the place I had perhaps missed most since lockdown began. Stocking up on snacks beforehand, getting my ticket scanned by the usher, then making my way to my seat in the dark and cavernous room was a comforting and exciting experience. With safeguarding precautions in place, it wasn’t exactly back to normal, but I still had a great time nonetheless.

The film I saw was Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited Tenet, a sci-fi spy thriller whose story has been cleverly veiled by mysterious hype-building marketing. Tenet was preemptively labelled by many to be cinema’s saviour, both in terms of its much-needed box office takings as well the film’s groundbreaking story and special effects. Hopefully, Tenet will make enough money to act as the former, but the film itself fails to live up to its pre-ordained position as the latter; my disappointment will be plain to see throughout this review I’m sure.

Like most of Nolan’s films, Tenet takes almost no time at all to get going. Beginning with a thrilling siege sequence, terrorists take an entire opera house hostage. Floods of Russian police arrive at the scene, and disguised among them is Tenet’s unnamed protagonist (John David Washington) and his covert team of CIA operatives. The team are tasked with rescuing one of their compromised agents, a mission the protagonist believed to be successful until he’s captured by Russian terrorists and violently tortured. Managing to consume a suicide pill, he supposedly dies.

However, he wakes, having passed his life’s most important test. Because of his skill set and sheer determination in the face of death, he is recruited to be a part of a mysterious espionage organization called Tenet. The protagonist soon discovers that the greatest threat to mankind isn’t some sort of nuclear holocaust, but the potentially disastrous manipulation of time being undertaken by Andrei Sator, a wealthy Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh). Thus, begins the protagonist’s journey to stop Sator, using time manipulation himself in his mission.

Nolan’s fresh take on time travel is wholly and unmistakably original. It’s definitely the most interesting I have ever seen. The way he uses visuals to show off some objects reversing in time while the entire world flows naturally forward is breathtaking. It’s a genius concept similar to that of the dream heist ideas in Inception. However, unlike Inception, Nolan isn’t quite able to craft a plot that is as exciting, or as emotional, or as simple enough to understand as to encase the brilliance of the sci-fi concept; in terms of complication, Tenet makes Inception look like a bedtime story.

The characters are likeable enough. Early on in the film the protagonist partners up with Neil (Robert Pattinson), an English intelligence agent who helps him take down Sator. Washington and Pattinson’s chemistry is plain to see, and their characters’ relationship is one of the few emotional tethers the film allows you to grab on to. Tenet almost acts like a Bond audition for both of these capable leading men, globetrotting in swaggering suits while also taking down an evil arms dealer. Truth be told, I’d love either man to get a shot at following in Daniel Craig’s unforgettable wake.

Branagh is also good as Sator, believably maddened by godlike delusions of grandeur his immense wealth has given him. Elizabeth Debicki plays Sator’s estranged wife Kat, whom the protagonist uses to get close to Sator. Kat is definitely one of the film’s biggest flaws. Her flat and conventional character gives Debicki little to play with, and Nolan again falls into using the predictably boring trope of the damsel in distress to motivate both the protagonist and the villain.

As expected, Tenet is filled with some pretty stunning set pieces. There’s a thrilling car chase sequence, as well as literal plane crash that are great to behold on the big screen. The climactic battle sequence also looks stunning, especially with all the strange time reversal effects littering the screen. In terms of blockbuster size and immensity, Tenet is right up there with the best of them, it’s just that its cerebral concept doesn’t get the story treatment it deserves. It’s the exact same way I feel about Memento, one of Nolan’s earlier films.

Another thing that’s worth noting is Tenet’s soundtrack. Composed by Ludwig Göransson, a bit of a rising star among film composers, its alien and metallic vibrations are earth-shattering within the cinema. Its really powerful stuff, and key to creating the cold and inhuman atmosphere of the film.

But that cold and inhuman atmosphere is Tenet’s fatal flaw. It’s lack of truly relatable and interesting characters give the viewer little emotional stake in the film’s conflict. We’re constantly made aware the world is going to end, but does anyone really care? For anyone unsure whether to see Nolan’s latest, I would still whole-heartedly push them to do so. It may not exactly be my cup of tea, but it was still a wholly enjoyable theatre experience nonetheless.